AFTER the recent APEC meeting I watched with dismay the sudden surge of MFN-is-no-problem-ism. The Chinese leadership was just back from seemingly making the British blink first and they were ready to wrestle Bill Clinton to the ground.
In the tradition of the Bangkok Declaration, which in March 1993 expressed official Asia's view that human rights standards are not universal, Mr Clinton was told to mind his own business. Behind this tough talk, a chorus of academics and China hands sang the old refrain that Chinese leaders had had enough during the colonial imperialist past and were not going to take any more pressure from outsiders.
In a case of ''political surfing'', it was as if a big wave had knocked the entire human rights movement over and China, riding high, need not worry about renewal of Most Favoured Nation status again. The only problem is that this wave, or perhaps tidal wave, is not heading for any shore except our own.
The rest of the world continues to have definite ideas about universal standards of human rights and will continue to push China on this issue. This concern has developed over most of this century and is deep-rooted.
The occasional bout of expediency may see a hard-line leadership get away with flaunting this concern but this is usually accompanied by great cost and the burden of political isolation. China's leaders want neither.
Judging from the popular demonstrations in 1989, both Chinese mainlanders and Hong Kong people appear to be of like mind with much of the world concerning the universality of human rights. In the March 1993 Bangkok meetings it appeared that only the governments of Asia were bent on challenging universal standards.
The Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from all over Asia, who met in Bangkok, disagreed.